


How Much Further Can We Go? (Too Far)

by Schmiddty



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Consensual Possession, Existential Dread, Gen, I didn't know that was a tag but it's fitting, Office drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schmiddty/pseuds/Schmiddty
Summary: Edward never expected to see Truth again, let alone without a sacrifice first. But Truth is worried, and he needs access to the mortal plane.(Alternatively, if you pass through the gate too many times, you get to be God's puppet.)





	How Much Further Can We Go? (Too Far)

When Edward accepted the desk job with Mustang, he expected mischief and shady dealings from day one. This however, this seemed excessive. Within the view of his thousand yard stare were two men, grappling with an oddly stoic dog over a treat (one too many). Their desperation was palpable as the hour drew nearer to when the dog's owner, Hawkeye, and the colonel were due back from their many sucking up meetings. Edward watched them tumble around for a moment longer, before reluctantly turning back to the form in front of him. Some of these should be done, he supposed, before the flame colonel (general? whatever) returned. 

Maybe the monotony would help him shake off this bad feeling he’d been carrying around all day. Said bad feeling had served him well in the field, when he still had his alchemy; however now it was little more than a forewarning for sudden cafeteria closings and the rain ( and it was really more his remaining automail that warned him of the rain- a torrential downpour of misery). 

His quill snapped. He sighed. Sometimes he missed the snapshot problem-solving of clapping. He rose, ready to rifle through the meager supplies in the closet; that’s when Edward’s sight blew up in a blaze of white. When he regained glimpses of vision, he was met with so many, too many, black hands rising, grabbing his face, his arms, jerking him down into- he gasped. 

Truth. 

There was no reason for this to be happening. He didn’t even possess the power to open the gate anymore. Distantly, he heard the fuss of noise over his thudding, pounding heart, his team shouting his name over and over. The crash of the door overwhelmed all of it, and the spots in Edward’s vision cleared just in time to see Mustang reaching towards him, eyes wide in shock and hand mid (desperate) clap, as if he could combat God when they wanted something. In the next instant, he was dumped into the white void, and six individuals were left to stare at where he had just stood. 

He was dumped into what he assumed was the equivalent of Truth’s waiting room would be, an somewhat familiar stark landscape- the only difference was that there was no doors to taunt him this time. He’s still trying to work out how Truth managed to pull him in here without him first paying, because, like Charon, Truth cannot take people across the Styx without a toll. It’s befuddling up until Truth appears with shit-eating grin, then its infuriating and Edward starts to yell. Cursing the equivalent to God’s mother is probably a fast way to lose all his limbs, permanently, but he’s too upside down and inside out to have the appropriate higher thinking in this moment. He was done with this. He was done playing this game. Then Truth strips him of his mouth, and begins to tell a tale. 

Truth later gives back his mouth and he’s too busy gaping to notice that he doesn’t have to be lost for words. He is anyway. “Wait, wait” Edward finally gasps out, “What do you mean you need my body?”  
“Cosmic forces beyond your understanding are at work here. You are the only one whose body has been apart of my gate so many times. It may have enlightened you, but there are consequences for every action taken.” Truth seemed to find this all wonderfully entertaining, but Edward could also sense the pang of uncertainty within the entity. Whatever Truth needed to possess his body for, it was of dire circumstance.

“It’s of dire circumstance.”

“So I gathered” replied Edward. He hesitated. “If I do this… will this all be over? No more being dragged into the gate to be used as a golem for your personal errands?”

“Perhaps,” Truth said, “but I cannot predict the future. Until you die, you are my sole connection to the waking world. I cannot communicate to those who do not wish to talk to me. You are my... loophole.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“It’s not supposed to be.” parried back Truth. 

Edward supposed there could be worse things. He had faced worse things. It just really sucked. He was allowed to pout about this, because he thought he was completely free from this arrangement he unknowingly signed himself into at age eleven. Edward sighed, and stared Truth in what he thought were its eyes. He nodded, and suddenly Truth was looming over him, face too close to Edwards, blotting out whatever light source with a steadily shadowed white face. The perpetual grin was still there, even more eerie when Edward realized its teeth weren’t really teeth, seemingly carved into its face with no hint of anything existing behind. Edward tried to recall if he’d ever seen Truth open its mouth. It was distracting enough to get over the initial discomfort of having someone so close. 

“You can go back now. When I need your body, I’ll take it. You’ll be aware, but just… off.” 

“Off?” questioned Edward.

“Shut down,” replied Truth, “is probably a better way to put it. You’ll see, feel, touch, and talk with me. But you won’t be making the decisions.”

Edward flinched at the idea of not having control, of relinquishing his hard-earned limbs to something that regularly stole limbs from people. 

“Relax,” purred Truth, “Think of it as vacation.” And with that, Truth grabbed Edwards face with startling veracity, and everything abruptly went black.

**Author's Note:**

> pls validate my ideas lol


End file.
